Fish vertebra

Last revised by Mostafa Elfeky on 7 Oct 2023

Fish vertebra, also known as codfish vertebra, describes the biconcave appearance of vertebrae (especially lumbar vertebrae).

The term fish vertebrae is attributed to Fuller Albright (1900-1969), American endocrinologist. In 1941, he used the term to describe the likeness of the biconcave shape of the human vertebrae to the biconcave shape of fish vertebrae; although the species was unspecified. In 1948, Fuller Albright and Edward Reifenstein (1908-1975), an American endocrinologist, provided images of codfish vertebra to illustrate the deformation of vertebral bodies seen in postmenopausal osteoporosis 5, hence the term codfish vertebrae 6.

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